Practical guide for UK professional kitchens
Catering recipe costing: calculate food cost per head
Whether you're costing a buffet, staff lunch or event menu, start with reliable batch ingredient costs and realistic portions. Then price staffing, transport and other services separately.
Try the free recipe calculator →How do I calculate catering food cost per person?
Add up the ingredient cost of all planned dishes and divide by the number of covers that batch is intended to serve. Check the yield of each dish and whether the portion estimates are realistic. The result is an ingredient cost per head, not the total cost to deliver the event.
Example: a buffet for 40 guests
If the ingredients for the complete buffet cost £160 and the menu is planned for 40 guests, the average ingredient cost is £4.00 per person.
| Estimated covers | 40 |
|---|---|
| Total ingredient cost | £160 |
| Ingredient cost per head | £4.00 |
| Illustrative selling price per head (ex VAT) | £16.00 |
| Ingredient-based GP | 75% |
This GP ignores staffing, equipment, serving supplies, deliveries, venue costs, waste and other overheads. The example selling price is illustrative, not a quotation recommendation.
Cost buffet dishes in batches
For a batch recipe, record the quantity used and purchased cost for each ingredient, then the cooked yield and portions. Cost sauces, dressings, condiments and garnishes as well as the main ingredients. For multiple dishes, aggregate the batch costs before dividing by realistic covers.
Pricing a catering event beyond food ingredients
Separate ingredient costing from the full event quotation. Include staff hours, setup, service, delivery, disposables or hire costs, waste allowance and the appropriate VAT treatment. Food-cost GP alone does not indicate overall event profitability.
What if the guest count changes?
Review recipe batch sizes, purchasing pack formats and yields. Scaling portion counts proportionally can produce different purchase quantities and waste, so check each ingredient instead of assuming costs scale exactly.
Read our menu pricing guide or try the free costing calculator.
Bring supplier prices and recipe costing together
Mise en Price helps professional kitchens keep a supplier price book, save recipes and review the ingredient-based GP of dishes. Scan invoice photos or PDFs, review extracted details before importing and link confirmed ingredient prices to recipes.
Start with the free one-recipe calculator without signing up. For the complete app, there is a 14-day free trial with no card required, then an optional £9.99/month subscription. No automatic charge at the end of the trial.
Try the full app free →Prefer a spreadsheet?
Download our free recipe costing spreadsheet template for a worked ingredient-cost example you can edit in Excel or Google Sheets.